With the holidays approaching, work travel and my first synchro competition, I’ve not taken the time to stop and post. However, it’s been an eventful and fun few weeks in my skating world.
Monday, December 1st: We had our final regular practice before the Dr. Porter competition in Ann Arbor. We had to wear our dresses and tights and practice entering the ice.
Both or our coaches were going to be skating; one as the definite alternate for a skater who decided to move to the lower open adult team, the other coach just decided to skate to give us an extra oomph – which added an extra skater to the lines and formations. We briefly ran through the areas that would be different with an extra skater so everyone would know where to go. Then we practiced coming on to the ice for a “mini warm-up” by skating in lines into our beginning position.
Finally, we did the mini warm-up and started the music. We got half way through when BAM! I felt my line collapse and heard a big thud. I turned and saw one of our older members lying on the ice with her hands clutching her nose and mouth. Never a good sign. Amazingly, she wasn’t bleeding horribly which would be good news considering hitting the mouth and nose area, but it predicted something being broken instead. One of the coaches called EMS and an ambulance came. She got to go to the emergency room in her sparkles and tights!
Through email I got the news that she did in fact break her jaw. She had to have it wired shut for several weeks. She put a long post on the group discussion board that she wasn’t feeling comfortable with this program and wanted to ask our coach about sitting out the Dr. Porter competitions and practicing more so she felt comfortable for sectionals. I think that thought plus practicing with an extra person next to her who is naturally faster in the last practice before this competition probably freaked her out a bit.
On that note, I left for Ann Arbor on Friday morning with some of the other veterans of the team. A lot of the car conversation was devoted to the incident and the older members of the team feeling like the program goes at “warp speed.”
Friday, December 5th: This was travel day. The team veterans were so sweet the entire trip to me, since this would be my first synchro competition. I think it’s been 12 years since I last competed as a single skater, but I wasn’t nervous at all. I was actually looking forward to skating with a team and not worrying about jumps or everyone looking at me. I felt comfortable with the program too.
Overall, I’d been really excited about the whole trip and competition. I looked forward to seeing some of the big name synchro teams like the Haydenettes and Miami University. I also thought I might see some coaches I know from other rinks or skaters I knew who had become coaches. Plus, I can count Michigan as a state I’ve been to now. It’s always a bonus to see a new state no matter how briefly.
It was snowing when we got to Ann Arbor and we went straight to the rink to register the team. The 2008 Dr. Porter Memorial was held at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube and it is a three rink facility, two surfaces have arena seating. While the team manager registered us and picked up our information packets, I got to witness several teams warming up which was too awesome as I discovered most warm up in synch! They had a little workout routine to music that they all did together. It brought up images of the teams eating cereal and brushing their teeth in synch…. How far do they take the synchronization??? ;)
We had arrived at a good time during the junior teams’ short program practice. So, we went out into the Stadium Rink to watch. This block of girls came by and I felt this big gush of wind as they glided past. They skated so smoothly and fast with seamless transitions. The formations were solid and all of the girls’ eyes were looking up and center, not an eyelash out of place. I was transfixed to my spot as they finished running through the program. It was just beautiful. I have seen synchro programs on YouTube and the LSA’s teams at our rink, but I just can’t describe seeing a good team live and the sound of 40 blades powering down the ice at once, the wind that swoops by and the precision of their movements. That first team I saw was called Gold Ice, a junior team from Canada.
Our practice was at friggin’ midnight. 12:07 a.m. We went and checked into the hotel, grabbed something to eat and did an off-ice practice run through as best we could in a small conference room. I went to the rink a little early to see the LSA juvenile team practice. In doing so, I caught the practice session of the Master Denver Synchronicity team that we would be skating against. They are the reigning National Champs and the director of synchro programs at US Figure Skating skates on this team. They were soup.
12:07 a.m. Practice – so we had our skating dresses and tights on again and ran through the entrance and then the program several times. The first time through a few people fell but I think that got it out of the system. We improved each time.
Saturday, December 6th: The masters’ competition wasn’t until four or something. The beginner and juvenile teams all competed early in the day and I missed all of their events. We had more off ice practice in the conference room. Then we had to put our itchy, black, glitter-shedding dresses and tights on again to hang out in all day. This time we got to add hair and make-up. We had to buy matching long-last lipstick (which brought out the yellow in my teeth – I felt like a bridesmaid) and the team bought eye shadow and blush to share. We gelled up and slicked back the hair before attaching the hair pieces. We look a bit like librarians getting wild.
Finally, we got in our locker room got into our skates and took to the warm-up ice. We ran through our program with one fall. Then we walked over to the stadium rink, entered the ice and performed the program for real. Most of the juvenile team was still around and they cheered us on. No one fell and all felt well. We celebrated with an assortment of carbs at the Macaroni Grill.
Saturday, December 13th: I really didn’t see any of our competitors. What I did see confirmed what I already knew, my team’s footwork is much more basic and at a much lower level of difficulty. We finished last, but the veterans were happy two judges placed us 5th.
We changed the majority of our steps in our elements to increase the difficulty in the first practice after the competition. No more pumps, it’s all about crossovers and chasses now – much more challenging. I’m very much enjoying the changes and looking forward to practicing the steps on my own and I hope the rest of team does as well and doesn’t freak out. Only three more practices until our next competition.